Become a Vocalise Mentor
Eligibility
Time commitments
Throughout the Michaelmas (Autumn) term, mentors must commit to attending virtual lessons. Each lesson is two hours long, and there are eight to ten lessons, depending on progress made during the teaching period. Lessons can be taken on either Tuesday or Wednesday evenings. After these lessons are completed, mentors must pass 'boot camp', a half-day practical exam which ensures mentors are fit to teach in prisons. The arrangements for bootcamp will be provided closer to the time due to the constantly changing nature of social distancing requirements and gatherings.
After passing boot camp, mentors must commit to at least eight half-days of teaching, by way of two separate ‘teaching cycles’ of four weekly lessons. This might mean, for instance, that a mentor signs up to teach one morning lesson a week in Pentonville during February, followed by one afternoon session a week in Downview during April. These two cycles represent a minimum teaching commitment. We encourage mentors to sign up for further sessions if they wish to do so. Lessons are taught in groups of three.
Please note that all teaching takes place during working hours.
Please contact Vocalise if you require further information.
Applications to become a Vocalise mentor in 2020-21 are now open!
To apply, complete the application form before 11am on Sunday 11th October 2020.
Application tips
We want to know about:
- Your volunteering experience. Directly relevant experience is clearly an advantage, but we are principally interested in evidence of your reliability, resilience, and commitment to projects.
- Your experience of public speaking. Around 30% of our mentors this year had no experience of parliamentary debating. We will teach you the fundamentals of parliamentary debating, so don’t let your lack of debating experience put you off. If you have been involved in mooting, mock trials, or other forms of public speaking, then outline this in your application.
- Your motivations. Why you want to be a Vocalise mentor? We want to know what you believe you can bring to the project and what you are hoping to learn in return.